Young and Prudent is all about becoming more mindful of your money, how you’re emotionally connected to it, and how it impacts various aspects of your life as a Millennial.

I’ve previously written about setting financial goals, shame around money, alternative ways to live and save, the differences between the generations, anxiety about my life path, and impulse-buying.

In the past weeks, I’ve touched on a lot of high-level aspirations and realizations, as well as ground-level experiences. However, talking about making a change is a good first step, but eventually everyone needs to take action.

So this week I’m bringing it down to Earth – giving everyone a foundation they can start with.

Here are five clear steps from Solomon Halpern, President of Highlander – A Mindful Finance Company, on how to be more mindful about your money and finances.

1. Be kind to yourself. There’s nothing wrong with you.

This message is highly applicable to our financial selves. People often have a negative view of themselves from a financial perspective. Sometimes we dwell on the “wasted years” – on how we could have been saving more. We think we’re behind everyone else, and focus on some bad decisions we made.

But if you never get past all that, you can never make any changes. This kind of thinking can derail you, even before you get started on the path to seeing and relating to your finances more clearly. You don’t even take that first step, but instead get distracted by some colorful flowers on the side of the path.

Before you can take the first step forward, you have to decide to give yourself a big break – all the decisions you made in the past are okay. From this place, you’ll be able to see financially damaging habitual patterns more clearly – and then leave them behind.

2. Start saving, or save a little bit more.

“A general rule of thumb is to aim to save 10% of your gross income each year,” says Halpern. “But even more important than that number is to begin a habit of saving.”